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yesterday

NASA Confirms 6,000 Exoplanets, Marking a New Phase in the Search for Other Worlds

NASA says the field is pivoting from tallying worlds to probing atmospheres for signs of habitability.

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NASA confirma más de 6,000 exoplanetas: ¿Estamos cerca de encontrar vida en el universo?
Los exoplanetas conocidos varían desde pequeños mundos rocosos y gigantes gaseosos hasta planetas ricos en agua y aquellos tan calientes como las estrellas.
La NASA alcanzó un hito histórico: se confirmaron 6.000 exoplanetas, planetas fuera del Sistema Solar, en apenas 30 años de exploración.

Overview

  • NASA’s Exoplanet Archive, maintained by NExScI at IPAC/Caltech, now lists 6,000 confirmed planets with more than 8,000 candidates awaiting verification.
  • The total rose from roughly 5,000 to 6,000 in about three years, highlighting an accelerating discovery pace across missions and surveys.
  • The agency cautions there is no single “6,000th” planet because confirmations are added continuously by teams around the world.
  • Fewer than 100 exoplanets have been directly imaged, and most detections rely on indirect methods that require follow-up observations for confirmation.
  • JWST has analyzed the chemistry of more than 100 exoplanet atmospheres, while Gaia and the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman telescope are expected to yield thousands of additional targets.